Boeing Awarded Production Contract for US Air Force AWACS Block 40/45
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Boeing Awarded Production
Contract for US Air Force AWACS Block 40/45 Upgrade

By Antonio Percy

July 24, 2009,
Seattle,-- The Boeing Company yesterday announced that it has
received a $44 million Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract for
the Block 40/45 upgrade of the U.S. Air Force Airborne Warning and
Control System (AWACS) fleet. The contract, awarded by the Electronic
Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., marks the official
beginning of the Block 40/45 production phase.

Boeing will
provide shipset hardware, spare parts, ground systems installation, and
delivery and logistic support for the first aircraft to undergo the
upgrade. Air Force personnel will install the hardware at the Air
Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. Installation is
scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2011. The remaining
five LRIP aircraft will be covered in a follow-on contract.

"Block 40/45
brings the AWACS mission system into the 21st century and enables rapid
future upgrades, allowing the AWACS fleet to remain a key asset in air
battle management for many years to come," said Paula Pielak, Boeing
AWACS 40/45 and Advanced Projects program manager. "We look forward to
putting this tremendous capability into production and delivering it to
the warfighter."

Boeing met all key
performance parameters for the upgraded Block 40/45 system during a
flight test acceptance program, proving the system's reliability and
stability. The program was completed in July 2008.

The Block 40/45
upgrade, which is the largest in the history of the AWACS program,
dramatically enhances the systemís potential for using network-enabled
operations and increases AWACS mission execution capability,
effectiveness and reliability while lowering life-cycle costs through a
number of improved features, including:

higher
processing power, which enables better operation of the fleet's
advanced battle management tools, such as Automatic Air Tasking
Orders and Airspace Coordination Order updates

the capability
to determine the most effective airborne weapon to pair against an
identified target

the
Multi-Source Integration process (MSI), which automatically
integrates data from on-and off-board sources, such as radar and
Identification Friend or Foe, Electronic Support Measures and Link
16. The open system and lean architecture of the MSI enables rapid
software upgrades and requires less hardware.